This collection of the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882, contains the following books:
Natural History of Intellect and Other Papers, Miscellanies, Lectures and Biographical Sketches, Poems,... More > Letters and Social Aims, Society and Solitude, English Traits, Representative Men, Essays, First Series, Essays, Second Series, Nature, The Conduct of Life< Less

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of... More > the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States.
Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, Nature. Following this ground-breaking work, he gave a speech entitled "The American Scholar" in 1837, which Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. considered to be America's "Intellectual Declaration of Independence"< Less

Nature is an essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, published anonymously in 1836. It is in this essay that the foundation of transcendentalism is put forth, a belief system that espouses a... More > non-traditional appreciation of nature. Transcendentalism suggests that divinity diffuses all nature, and speaks to the notion that we can only understand reality through studying nature. A visit to the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris inspired a set of lectures delivered in Boston and subsequently the ideas leading to the publication of Nature.< Less

Emerson wrote most of his important essays as lectures first, then revised them for print. His first two collections of essays – Essays: First Series and Essays: Second Series, published... More > respectively in 1841 and 1844 – represent the core of his thinking, and include such well-known essays as Self-Reliance, The Over-Soul, Circles, The Poet and Experience. Together with Nature, these essays made the decade from the mid-1830s to the mid-1840s Emerson's most fertile period.
Emerson wrote on a number of subjects, never espousing fixed philosophical tenets, but developing certain ideas such as individuality, freedom, the ability for humankind to realize almost anything, and the relationship between the soul and the surrounding world. Emerson's "nature" was more philosophical than naturalistic; "Philosophically considered, the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul."< Less

The Conduct of Life is a collection of essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson wrote most of his important essays as lectures first, then revised them for print. His first two collections of essays... More > – Essays: First Series and Essays: Second Series, published respectively in 1841 and 1844 – represent the core of his thinking, and include such well-known essays as Self-Reliance, The Over-Soul, Circles, The Poet and Experience. Together with Nature, these essays made the decade from the mid-1830s to the mid-1840s Emerson's most fertile period.
Emerson wrote on a number of subjects, never espousing fixed philosophical tenets, but developing certain ideas such as individuality, freedom, the ability for humankind to realize almost anything, and the relationship between the soul and the surrounding world. Emerson's "nature" was more philosophical than naturalistic; "Philosophically considered, the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul."< Less

Representative Men is a collection of seven lectures by Ralph Waldo Emerson, published as a book of essays in 1850. The first essay discusses the role played by "great men" in society, and... More > the remaining six each extoll the virtues of one of six men deemed by Emerson to be great: Plato ("the Philosopher"), Emanuel Swedenborg ("the Mystic"), Michel de Montaigne ("the Skeptic"), William Shakespeare ("the Poet"), Napoleon ("the Man of the World"), and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ("the Writer"). The work was described by Matthew Arnold as "the most important work done in prose".< Less

Emerson wrote most of his important essays as lectures first, then revised them for print. His first two collections of essays – Essays: First Series and Essays: Second Series, published... More > respectively in 1841 and 1844 – represent the core of his thinking, and include such well-known essays as Self-Reliance, The Over-Soul, Circles, The Poet and Experience. Together with Nature, these essays made the decade from the mid-1830s to the mid-1840s Emerson's most fertile period.
Emerson wrote on a number of subjects, never espousing fixed philosophical tenets, but developing certain ideas such as individuality, freedom, the ability for humankind to realize almost anything, and the relationship between the soul and the surrounding world. Emerson's "nature" was more philosophical than naturalistic; "Philosophically considered, the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul."< Less

Having travelled abroad in 1847, Emerson lectured with success in England and he was highly admired there. He renewed his friendship with Carlyle, met other notable English authors, and collected... More > materials for English Traits, which was eventually published in 1856. In English Traits he has described the experiences he had in England. The book is said to be a valuable insight into the contemporary England. Even today, English Traits is in the syllabus of many schools and colleges all over the world.< Less

The Emerson Collection is an anthology of essays from Transcendentalist leader Ralph Waldo Emerson. Selection includes: The American Scholar, Self-Reliance, Essays I, Essays II, The Conduct of Life,... More > Letters and Social Aims, Society and Solitude, Nature, Man the Reformer, Representative Men, English Traits, Politics, The Conservative, Literary Ethics and much more< Less

Emerson is one of the most influential thinkers in American history. His Transcendentalism preached a close communion with man and nature and is one of the great life-affirming philosophies of any... More > age. Society and Solitude provides a salient exemplification of Emerson's thought. As one of the architects of the transcendentalist movement, Emerson embraced a philosophy that championed the individual, emphasized independent thought, and prized "the splendid labyrinth of one's own perceptions." More than any writer of his time, he forged a style distinct from his European predecessors and embodied and defined what it meant to be an American. Matthew Arnold called Emerson's essays "the most important work done in prose." "I was simmering, simmering, simmering. Emerson brought me to a boil."
This classic contains chapters on social aims; poetry and imagination; eloquence; quotation and originality; progress of culture, Persian poetry; inspiration; greatness; and immortality< Less

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